FORMER Hong Kong minister Lord Caithness has resigned from the Government after his wife apparently killed herself.
The 40-year-old Countess of Caithness apparently shot herself at the couple's Oxfordshire home the day before the couple were to celebrate their 19th wedding anniversary.
Lord Caithness resigned as Transport Minister after telling Prime Minister John Major he wanted to spend more time with his children.
The couple had one son and one daughter.
Lord Caithness was Foreign Office Minister with special responsibility for Hong Kong from 1990 to 1992 during the period when the post-Tiananmen Square nationality package dominated Hong Kong-British issues.
He did not always endear himself to the Hong Kong people although within the Foreign Office he was perceived as having done a good job at a difficult time.
He has had greater success as a transport minister overseeing key projects like the Channel Tunnel.